A FORMER church and church hall are to be turned into Richmondshire's most ambitious community office yet.

Due to be opened in September, it will be the fifth such office to open in the district and will be in the heart of Richmond.

It will provide one-stop access to council services as the local authority strives to make itself more accessible to the public.

The office will occupy half of the Dundas Street redevelopment, a project involving the conversion of the former church, church hall, infant school and parish rooms, owned by Zetland Estates.

Residents will be able to use the community office as a central point of contact for face-to-face inquiries about housing benefits, council tax, planning, environmental issues, or any other council matter.

They will also be able to make appointments to see officers using private interview facilities, make over-the-counter payment transactions, and access other agencies and services such as Business Link North Yorkshire.

At the moment, any inquiries and transactions made in person can require visits to up to four sites across the town.

The new office is larger than the existing centres in Reeth, Leyburn, Colburn and Hawes, to reflect anticipated demand.

"We know that 73 per cent of our daily footfall inquiries come from people in the Richmond area," said the district council's chief executive, Harry Tabiner.

The development will also have an up-to-date "contact centre" where trained assistants will take calls from the public across Richmondshire.

"This should not be confused with a large and anonymous call centre," said Mr Tabiner. "On the contrary, we aim to offer a personal, but efficient service.

"By 2005 we aim to have the technology in place to ensure that four out of five telephone inquiries are handled and resolved by this first point of contact."

The chairman of the resources committee, Councillor Wendy Morton, said: "It is a major step forward to be able to offer such a wide range of public services in the one building, especially in such attractive and prestigious offices.

"Moreover, if the council does eventually relocate to Colburn, we will have fulfilled our promise to ensure that the people of Richmond still have all council facilities on their doorstep."